Jessica Zemken of Sprakers, New York became the first woman to win the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals A-Feature in the 10th annual edition of Ohsweken Speedway’s signature event on Saturday night. Zemken took the lead on lap 13 of the 35 lap race and held off 2009 CSCN winner Wayne Johnson to earn the $12,000 prize.

The race began with Jared Horstman and Dustin Daggett on the front row. Daggett took the lead, while Shane Stewart moved up to challenge, and the two traded slide jobs several times before making contact on lap 7 and allowed Stewart to take the lead. Horstman joined the fray along with 14th starter Jessica Zemken just as a yellow flag came out for a spin by Randy Hannagan in turn 3. Just one more lap was completed before Horstman slipped off the end of the track in turn 3 and hit an embankment. Horstman went to the work area during the caution period, but his crew decided the car was too heavily damaged to continue.

Daggett and Zemken went to work on Stewart when the green flag flew again. Daggett was alongside Stewart for the lead several times, while Zemken used the extreme low side of the track to move into 2nd on lap 12, and past Stewart on the next circuit. Another yellow flag flew on lap 14 for Paige Polyak facing the wrong way in turn 3, while Kyle Patrick got off track at the same time. 12th starter Bryan Howland was up to 6th at that point, while 24th starter Robbie Stillwaggon had advanced to 7th, with 17th starter Mark Smith right behind him.

Zemken pulled away when the race restarted, while Stewart and Daggett continued to race for the 2nd spot, and 10th starter Johnson raced with Howland for 4th. Zemken began to work through traffic, with Stewart and Johnson giving chase. Johnson drove around Stewart to take the 2nd spot on lap 22, while a caution flag came out on lap 23 for a spin by Dave Axton. Zemken restarted with the lead and 3 lapped cars between herself and Johnson, followed by Stewart, Howland, Daggett, Joe Trenca, Smith, 21st starter Steve Poirier, Stillwaggon, and Chuck Hebing.

Zemken opened a lead when the green flag came back out, while Johnson and Stewart worked to get past the lapped cars. Johnson used the high groove to start making gains on Zemken, who was sticking to the low side of the track, but the race was stopped with 9 laps left when Jordan Thomas crashed hard on the front stretch. Thomas eventually climbed from his heavily-damaged car under his own power. Crews were allowed to refuel cars during the red flag, but Mark Smith’s crew entered the track surface before they were permitted, resulting in the 6th place driver being sent to the back of the field.

The top five of Zemken, Johnson, Stewart, Howland, and Daggett restarted without any lapped cars between them, while Poirier inherited the 6th spot with one lapped car between himself and Daggett. Zemken’s restart was strong, and she opened a lead before Johnson begin to reel her back in. Daggett and Howland raced with Stewart for the 3rd spot, with Daggett eventually prevailing, while Poirier took 5th from Stewart. Johnson continued to close the gap on Zemken despite having no brakes, but was held up briefly by a lapped car with less than 2 laps to go. Zemken held on to take the win, followed by Johnson, Daggett, Howland, Poirier, Stewart, Hebing, Trenca, Polyak, and Jared Zimbardi.

68 drivers from 2 Canadian provinces and 8 American states attempted to qualify for the 2014 edition of the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals on Saturday night. 16 drivers competed in the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals for the first time, with Paige Polyak the highest finishing first-time competitor. Chuck Hebing ran the fastest time overall in group time trials to collect the Fastest Qualifier Award, while Mitch Brown claimed the Fastest Canadian Qualifier award. Jeff Cook and his crew were given Corr/Pak Merchandising “Bill Peer Memorial” Best Appearing Car Award honours, while Steve Poirier claimed the Top Canadian A-Feature Finisher award, and Mitch Brown won the Brighton Speedway Highest Finishing SOS Driver award.

Dave Bailey and Wyatt Van Wart did their best to keep Lee Winger out of victory lane, but the 2013 track champion proved to be too strong for them. Winger stayed ahead through several restarts to take the win, while Bailey settled for the runner-up spot, followed by 2014 track champion Dave Silverthorn, Jr., Wyatt Van Wart, and Ryan Beagle.

Bailey set a new time trial track record for the Thunder Stock division during group qualifying with a lap of 19.656 seconds.

ABOUT OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY: Founded in 1996, Ohsweken Speedway is a motorsports complex which includes a 3/8 (0.375) mile clay oval track. The facility is owned by the Styres family, and located in the village of Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada. Ohsweken’s weekly Friday night racing program runs from May to September each year, featuring 360 Sprint Cars, Crate Sprint Cars, Thunder Stocks, Mini Stocks, and Bombers, while the season finishes each year with the annual Canadian Sprint Car Nationals. Ohsweken Speedway also hosts weekly Micro Sprint racing on Thursday nights, and has been a yearly stop on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car series schedule since 2007. Visit the official Ohsweken Speedway website at www.OhswekenSpeedway.com, like us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/OHSWEKENSPEEDWAY, follow us on Twitter @OhswekenSpdway, and subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/user/OhswekenSpdway Ohsweken Speedway thanks the following sponsors for their support: Arrow Express, Corr/Pak Merchandising Inc., Renway Energy, O’Neil’s Farm Equipment, McDonald’s Restaurants of Paris & Brantford, Nathan Ackland State Farm Insurance, Strickland’s GMC, Mobil 1, Burger Barn, Affordable Towing & Recovery, HRW Automotive, and Gale’s Auto Aftermarket.